López dealing again, plus Hyde on Maddon and more

ANAHEIM, Calif. – After Joey Krehbiel pulled off a nice escape act and stranded two runners in scoring position in the eighth inning Saturday night, it would once again be Jorge López time. The right-hander, who always seemed to struggle in the fifth innings of his starts, is now a closer, and he is pitching with the determination and effectiveness of an All-Star right now.

Asked to save the game for the second time in two nights and third in four days, López did it again last night. Throwing 98 mph again, López recorded the final two outs with a strikeout of Shohei Ohtani and an Anthony Rendon grounder as the Orioles held on for a 5-4 win over the Los Angeles Angels. They had a narrow 5-3 win on Friday night and can sweep this series this afternoon.

When the series started, the Angels were 8-5 and in first place in the American League West, had won seven of nine games, had beaten Houston 7-2 and 6-0 in its previous two games and ranked second in the AL in slugging and OPS.

But the Orioles have held their offense in check and López has been bringing the heat in the ninth.

“When the season started I told him, ‘I’m going to pitch you late game against the toughest part of the lineup,’” manager Brandon Hyde said. “Because I believe so much in his stuff. Whether that is going to be the seventh, eighth or ninth, he’s going to face the middle of the order. He’s taken it and run with it. He’s super confident on the mound. It’s never been about stuff with Lopie. His stuff has ticked up out of the 'pen because it’s a shorter sprint. He doesn’t have to go through the lineup a few times. And I think he’s relishing getting the ball in a high-leverage spot. It’s exciting to watch him. He’s come a long way.”

Added Ryan Mountcastle, who drove in three runs: “He’s got electric stuff. He’s a lot of fun to play behind. Very few guys get over to first base, but when they do, they’re all saying that guy is nasty.”

López, who has retired 20 of the last 22 batters he's faced, has also thrown five consecutive scoreless outings spanning 6 2/3 innings. He has 2.00 ERA for the season and his four saves are tied for second in the AL.

All throughout this road trip, Orioles pitchers have been making big pitches and getting out of jams. The stat for opponent runners in scoring position provides a barometer of that. Oakland went 5-for-31 versus the O’s in RISP spots, and the Angels are 1-for-13 over two nights. That is a combined 6-for-44 (.136) with RISP against the O’s staff on this trip.

When Saturday’s game began, Mountcastle had just three RBIs for the season and was 2-for-14 with RISP. Then he went 2-for-2 in those spots in the win, driving in three runs. He had an RBI single in the first and a huge, two-out, two-run single in the seventh, which put his team ahead 5-4. He drilled a slider off Ryan Tepera into left-center to plate two.

“I was trying to see a pitch up I could hit and drive,” he said of that at-bat. “He left a slider a little bit up. I just tried to stay through it and got a hit, and that was good for the team.”

And now, after the Orioles scored just 24 runs in their first 12 games, they’ve scored 14 in three games. They’ve scored those 14 runs in the last 23 innings since Trey Mancini’s ejection Thursday afternoon at Oakland.

“Balls are just falling. I mean, finally,” said Mountcastle. “We’ve been putting together great at-bats throughout the whole year thus far, in my opinion. We’ve been hitting balls hard and barreling some balls and they just haven’t been falling. Last couple games they have, which is nice to see.

“Winning is a lot of fun. For us to win this series and maybe sweep tomorrow is definitely a good way to head back to the East Coast.”

The Orioles are now 3-3 on this road trip and are 5-4 since beginning the year at 1-5. Last July the Orioles were swept three in a row in this park. Today they can sweep the Angels.

Hyde on the catchers: Pregame on Saturday, Hyde had some props for his catching tandem of Robinson Chirinos and Anthony Bemboom. He was particularly discussing Chirinos and how he had worked so well with lefty Bruce Zimmermann during his strong start Friday. Hyde said Chirinos has been stellar back there.

“It’s what he’s been doing since the day he got here," Hyde said. "It’s just a professional attitude. Incredible energy, incredible communication in the dugout, on the field, the way he slows the game down for the pitchers. The homework he does prior to the game. The confidence that the pitchers have in him.

"Someone who has caught in big games for good teams with good staffs. He knows what that looks like. He knows how to help guys navigate through lineups, and you’re seeing the confidence in our pitchers. I think that Robby, and Boomer also, they have a ton of confidence in both those guys. It’s been a huge difference for us with our pitching, and those guys deserve a ton of credit for what we’re doing on the mound.”

Hyde on Maddon: When current Angels manager Joe Maddon managed the Chicago Cubs to the World Series title in 2016 – ending their 108-year drought – his first base coach was Brandon Hyde. Hyde later became Maddon’s bench coach with the Cubs. The two men are close and spent a long time talking on the field before the game Friday night.

Hyde said he learned a lot about managing while working with Maddon.

“I say this a lot, but consistency every day” is a key element of Maddon’s managing success, Hyde said. “He’s the same person if you win five in a row or lose five in a row, and that's for the entire season, including playoffs. Just super steady, in a great mood and he’s incredibly fearless. He doesn’t care what people think. He’s going to always do what he feels like is the right thing to do. He’s not afraid of anything. What it might look like, how fans might react. Or anybody. He is going to always do what he thinks is the right thing. I think the players feed off that. They play fearlessly and they play loose. The teams we were on were extremely loose teams. The Tampa teams he had were incredibly loose teams. He buys into that culture, and you know, (I'm) trying to do the best I can with that here.”